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Cargando... Ennin's Travels in T'ang China (1955)por Edwin O. Reischauer
   Ninguno Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro.  pbjwelch | Jul 25, 2017 |  sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
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This book, a reconstruction of daily life and ways of thought in China during the ninth century, is based on an extensive travel diary of that time. The diarist Ennin was a Japanese Buddhist monk who went to China in AD 838 in search of new Buddhist texts and further enlightenment in his faith. While journeying through North China, and living in Ch'ang-an, he recorded in detail what he saw and experienced.Edwin O. Reischauer presents-often in Ennin's own words-a series of vignettes of various aspects of life in the Far East in medieval times: embassies and the conduct of international relations, the hazards of sea travel, Ennin's entanglements with the Chinese bureaucracy, life in the cities and the countryside, travel and economic conditions, commerce as carried on byKorean merchants, secular and religious festivals, Buddhism and its cults, rituals, and monastery life. The reader accompanies Ennin on a pilgrimage to the holy Mt. Wu-t'ai, and lives through China's greatest religious persecution, which Ennin personally experienced from beginning to end, before he returned to Japan in 847.The perfect companion for the reader of Ennin's Diary, Ennin's Travels serves as perhaps the most accurate and detailed account of the extraordinary civilization that flourished in China more than a thousand years ago. Unavailable for years, it is Angelico's pleasure to bring this important work, with a new foreword by Valerie Hansen, to the modern reader. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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 Google Books — Cargando...GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)951.016History and Geography Asia China and region History Early history to 960 Sui dynastyClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio: (5)
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Reischauer's handling of the material is nearly flawless--a short introduction explaining the significance of the work and a summary of the work's contents, then a recounting of the diary with each chapter focusing on an aspect of Ennin's diary--departure from Japan, arrival in China, his travels from the coast to the ancient capital of Ch'ang-an, the beginning of the suppression starting with Wuzong's ascension to the throne, his defrocking and departure back to Japan. The missing element was a more thorough explanation of the teachings and practise of the Buddhism Ennin encountered as our knowledge of the esoteric practices of this time and location are woefully lean. On this subject Reischauer bids us turn to other sources (unnamed).
Because most of the official Chinese dynastic histories gloss over this period, Ennin's diary is critical to anyone wanting to understand Tang China during this decade. It's a mesmerizing and horrific tale of how a land so bound to Buddhism, where one couldn't travel from one town to another without encountering parties of monks or nuns or pilgrims on the road, where monasteries dotted almost every hill, and monks were welcome visitors (at most, but not all establishments)...at an emperor's decree defrocked hundreds of thousands of monks and nuns, tore down established monasteries, confiscated lands and wealth, melted down Buddhist statues, burned its sutras and paintings, and terrorized its citizens into denying their faith.
Absolutely anyone interested in Chinese history and the history of Buddhism must read this book and I am ashamed I hadn't deemed Ennin's diary (and this accompanying volume) important enough to read when I was a student. It had literally sat on my shelves for decades, unread, until now. Mea culpa! (